It’s been 30 years since I developed the notion of “multiple intelligences.” I have been gratified by the interest shown in this idea and the ways it’s been used in schools, museums, and businesses around the world. But one unanticipated consequence has driven me to distraction—and that’s the tendency of many people, including persons whom I cherish, to credit me with the notion of ‘learning styles’ or to collapse ‘multiple intelligences’ with ‘learning styles.’ It’s high time to relieve my pain and to set the record straight.

In a long article in Education Next, Daniel Willingham critiques Gardner’s theory and the ways in which it is misunderstood by educators. “For educators, the daring applications forwarded by others in Gardner’s name (and of which he apparently disapproves) are unlikely to help students.”